For My Te Linda
This year has been hard and now I am trying to process this. How do you start grieving for the woman who raised you as though you were her own child? Maybe I will start with sharing my memories of her. Te Linda (or Maligalig as my mama will call her) did not have any children, but she treated me and my brother as though we were own. She was with us even before my brother was born. Although my mama will not admit it, she was the queen of our household when I was growing up. People now talk about support systems for women who work, I think my mama was lucky that she had Ate Linda to raise us while she worked and was able to have a career back then. I would always remember her laughter and her love for gossip. My mama will always tell her to speak softly because when she talked or laughed our next-door neighbours can hear her and everyone will know what is going on in our household. We were always updated with the latest news in our village and people gravitated towards our hous...
